Courage Under Fire (1996)

Substance has slammed into the summer season with the landfall of
COURAGE UNDER FIRE, an imposing and entirely affecting military
drama that reteams Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington with his
GLORY director Edward Zwick. This time, we're witness to a modern
conflict, as the movie opens on a friendly-fire incident during the
Gulf War. Commanding a compliment of armored vehicles, Lieutenant
Colonel Nat Serling (Washington) gives the order to fire on what is
thought to be an enemy target. His men die, instead. Six months
after the end of the war, Serling is working on his own death-- a
slow suicide via Scotch-- when he is assigned to investigate the
approval of a posthumous Medal of Honor for a helicopter pilot (a
gritty Meg Ryan) who died in the war. A discrepancy in the
surviving accounts piques Serling's interest and, soon, he begins
uncovering the truth about many things, including his own suffering
state.
COURAGE UNDER FIRE carries surprising emotional weight, even as it
all too often relies on familiar dramatic devices. You may wince
at such seeming cliches as Serling grasping for the whispered words
of a dying man lying on a hospital bed. Or his clandestine meeting
with a newspaper reporter (Scott Glenn) complete with trench coat,
sunglasses, and, amusingly, a Redskins cap. The too-polished plot
is as potentially distracting as the tightrope casting (Ryan, with
a slurred Southern accent; Lou Diamond Phillips as a buffed and
tough solider; Bronson Pinchot as a White House spin doctor).
Credit a couple of rock-solid performances (including Washington
and Michael Moriarty as the commanding officer) and a no-nonsense
approach by Zwick and screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan (MR.
HOLLAND'S ANUS, NICK OF TIME.) Their frank presentation of the
subject matter and a unflinching attention to detail help drive
home the point that the consequences of war are hell. Go and have
a good cry. (Rated "R"/117 min.)
Grade: A-
Copyright 1996 by Michael J. Legeros